Abstract:
This study entitled “strategies and styles used in the teaching and learning of
the Arabic language by the non-Arabic speaking Qur’an memorizers, -
North-Eastern Kenya as a case study-, aimed to detect learning strategies
and techniques employed by learners and of which teachers recognize and
promote.
The study followed the descriptive method and used questionnaires to
collect information and identified a study community of the Holy Qur’an
memorizers from North Eastern Kenya who are Somali speaking found at
the Umma and Raf Universities. A number of 80 students and 20 teachers
comprised the study lot and a sample of 62 learners and 17 teachers was
selected generally; a number that availed for the study. The results were
analyzed using (SPSS) which is the Statistical Package for Social Sciences
that analyses study sample answers for the purpose of analysis.
The study includes six chapters; chapter one is the basics of research and
chapter two is the previous studies. Chapter three consists of the theoretical
framework with five sub-topics. While chapter four constitute field study
procedures, and chapter five comprise presentation and analysis of the
sample answers and discussion. Lastly, chapter six is made up of the
research findings, recommendations and proposals, and then followed by
sources, references, and appendices.
Among the most important findings of the study were as follows:
Most used learning strategies by the students were as follows,
arranged in top bottom order: meta- cognitive strategies, social
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strategies, remembering strategies, compensatory strategies, cognitive
strategies and lastly, affective strategies.
The differences between the male and female learners in the learning
strategies was small but in compensatory strategies it was in favor of
female learners where it was used at a high margin.
More sub-learning strategies for each key strategy: In the metacognitive
strategies, thinking about how to progress in learning Arabic
language was the most widely used. In the social strategies, talking to
others was preferred. In the remembering strategies, linking the Holy
Qur’an words and Arabic words was most frequently used. In the
compensatory strategies, the use of body physical movements for
words or phrases that are difficult to bring forth, was mainly
employed. In the cognitive learning strategies, conversing in Arabic
was a favorite to many students, and in the affective strategies, to
force one self to use the Arabic language was the most widely used
among the Holy Qur’an memorizers.
The teachers realized some direct and indirect learning strategies
among students, and encouraged the strategies used by the students.
Early detection of learning strategies in the students was weak, as well
as teachers’ recognition to learners’ favorable patterns and learning
styles was very low.